Rourke's Kid
by Coffee and sugar addict
Summary: Rourke has a kid who would like nothing better than to make her father proud of her. Raised by Rourke and Helga, will this girl help to protect Atlantis or destroy it?
1. Chapter 1

Rourke's Kid

Chapter 1

"Lily, we're getting a new member of the team, I want you to keep an eye on him, make sure he's one of us." My dad, Lyle Rourke said, resting a hand on my shoulder. "Of course, dad" I said, standing up straighter, resting my hand on my knife. I would do anything to make him proud of me and he knew it. Beneath my long sleeves, my bruises were purple and green.  
I stood on the deck of the ship hunched over the railing, losing the remnants of my lunch. Near me, a man in his early thirties did the same exact thing, barely holding onto his glasses. "I hate seasickness." I muttered darkly, hearing him mutter something about carrots as he straightened up. He wasn't much taller than me, skinny, and he was obviously new. Who was this guy? I knew practically everyone on the expedition. Could he be the guy dad was telling me about? Whatever, I could figure it out later. "Hey Lily! Come on, it's time to go!" My friend Audrey Ramirez yelled at me, oil stains already on her face and overalls. "Coming Audrey!" I yell back and run down to her, hug her and we go onto the huge submarine. On our way to our shared room, we chat animatedly, easily switching between Spanish and English. I quickly claim the top bunk and she yells at me in Spanglish and I laugh. "Won't it be easier for you to get to the machines if you're on the bottom bunk though?" I ask, brushing a strand of dark brown hair out of my blue-gray eyes. Rolling my eyes, I put my hair up with a pencil from my bag, grab another and my sketch pad. "get up here and I'll draw you." I say to Audrey and she climbs up the ladder and sits in front of me. Forgetting where I am and who I'm with, I roll up my long green sleeves, exposing my now green bruises and Audrey grabs my arm hard enough for me to wince. "This look like finger marks, what happened?" She asks, her gaze suddenly sharp. I pull my arm out of her grasp, roll my sleeves back down and say "Nothing, I just tripped. You know how clumsy I am." I smile self-consciously. I quickly start to sketch her, first the eyes, then the rest of her face. "What do you think?" I ask, turning it to face her. "That's incredible! I love the detail!" She says and I smile. Art is my passion but it's not like I can tell dad that. We heard Packard's voice over the intercom and went to the bridge, me making sure to hide my sketchpad.  
I rolled my eyes at the bungling of Milo Thatch and caught Helga doing the same thing. Seriously, this was the guy who was going to lead us to Atlantis? I couldn't help agreeing with Mrs. Packard when she muttered "We're all gonna die." I caught dad's eye and gave him an incredulous look, but he just glared at me and I looked away, holding my arms close to my body.  
Audrey and I had up late talking, her eyeing my long sleeves when we heard alarms blaring and Audrey ran to the engine room while I threw my bag over my shoulder and jumped off the top bunk, running for the deck.  
When I finally got there, I gaped at the sight of the monster, the leviathan from the screens Milo had shown us earlier! My hands itched to draw it and I quickly memorized what I could of it to draw when I could before Helga started shoving me towards the pods. To anyone else she was angry, but I knew her well enough to know that she was scared. Scared of something so big her guns and fighting wouldn't have an impact. I quickly buckled myself in, dad and Helga in front of me. Audrey, Sweet, and Milo were in the same pod as us and Milo was freaking out. I was rapidly twirling a pencil in between my fingers, a method I had long ago developed to help control my nerves. I was holding onto Audrey's hand just as tight as she was holding onto mine until we broke out of the channel into a pod just like Milo had said we would. Huh, interesting.  
The brief memorial was the saddest thing I've ever seen. So many people gone in the space of not even an hour. I glared at the ground when dad directed the attention to Milo and said that our fate rested in his hands. " _Jeez dad, way to pin the blame if something bad happens. I suppose you'll jump in and take the credit when something good happens."_ But I remained silent. I knew what happened to people who dared to speak out against my father.


	2. Chapter 2

Rourke's Kid

Chapter 2

I rolled my eyes as Milo led us to the wrong archway, causing some weird thing to jump out at us, obviously guarding it. He turned the book, held it up close to his face, then sheepishly pointed at the other archway. Most of the time he knew what he was doing, but other times… I was reminded of the time he was trying to drive and failed. Dad was ticked and when we were sparring, hit a little harder than usual. I was careful to keep my shirt covering my stomach for the next few days after that. "Hey kid, you doin alright?" Sweet asked after I gasped in pain when a boulder we were climbing over was pressed into the bruise on my stomach. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, hedging away from the question. He shrugged but continued to keep an eye on me until lights out and even then, I could hear him and the rest of the group whispering quietly as I dropped off to sleep, curled up, protecting myself even in my sleep.  
I was the first to wake up, thanks to the schedule dad kept at home. Starting a fire, I grabbed a metal pot, put water in it to start boiling and found the coffee beans. A few minutes later, the smell of coffee was rousing everyone. "Good job, kiddo." Helga said to me quietly, ruffling my hair and smiling at me. Mom had left dad four months after they were married but she sent me to live with dad. Helga was more like a mom to me than my dad's associate. "Here you go, Milo. Stop staying up late reading." I said, handing him a canteen of coffee. "Gee uh thanks." He said awkwardly, faking a smile. "Someone hasn't ever had coffee." I muttered as I walked back to the group.  
I stood as far as from my dad as I could, absently rubbing the bruise on my ribs and watching as Milo tried and failed to look cool in front of Audrey, smiling when she punched him. True, she did feel kinda bad for how he kept being left out by her and the group. Maybe she would say something to Sweet later. She had never been very brave in making new friends.  
I scooted over as Milo sat down next to me and smiled at him, my sketchpad open on my lap, food on the ground next to me. I rolled my eyes at Mole's antics. Who even gave him that? I suspected that he was the one who had stolen the L from the Motor Pool sign on the submarine and I knew I wasn't the only one. I was shading in the leviathan, but scowled at how it didn't match up with the image in my head. I ripped it out of the book, balled it up and was about to throw it into the fire when Sweet took it from me, and rolled up my sleeve, revealing my bruises in their multicolored glory. "Who did this to you?" He said, voice shaking. "No one did anything to me, I tripped." I snap, standing up and wrenching my wrist out of his grasp, starting to panic on the inside. I can't let them know what's really going on! I walk off and sit down on the edge of the chasm and wrap my arms around myself. Someone comes to sit down next to me. "We don't know each other very well, but if you ever want to talk." Milo says and I nod, too nervous to talk. "Are you Ok? Has someone hurt you?" He asks. I don't trust myself to talk so I write "No to your first question" I pause, bite my lip and write "yes to the second question. Don't ask me who, I can't talk about it." And show him the sketchpad. I keep my eyes on the darkness below me as he reads. "OK, if you don't want me to ask, I won't." I sigh in relief and smile at him. "Thank you. Can you teach me how to speak Atlantean? Even if it's only a few phrases? I like languages." I add the last part hesitantly, feeling a little self-conscious. "Really? You want me to teach you?" He asked excitedly and I nodded. "I'll go get my book!" He said giddily and I laughed. He dashed off and I shook my head, still smiling. What a weirdo.  
I shuddered as Mrs. Packard walked by us and laughed at Milo's terrified look when he was told that Mrs. Packard sleepwalks. I took a deep breath and walked over to Sweet's tent. I wasn't good at apologies, but Sweet was my friend and I had to apologize. "Hey Sweet, can I talk to you?" I asked and he nodded and got up. We walked over to where I had sat earlier. Taking a deep breath, I rolled up my sleeves as far as they could go. "I'm sorry for yelling at you and for lying to you." I looked down, rubbing one of my bruises. "Someone did hurt me but I can't tell you. They would get even madder at me than they already are." I wasn't expecting the giant hug. "Don't apologize. You were scared and you were protecting yourself. We've all done the same exact thing." I wish Sweet was my dad rather than my friend and teammate. "How long has this been happening? During or before the expedition?" He asked, probably trying to narrow it down. "I can't tell you who it is so please stop trying to guess." He nodded. "Do you have any other bruises or just the ones on your arms?" I lifted my shirt, keeping my chest covered. The worst of the bruises were on my stomach and ribs and they still hurt. He poked a dark bruise on my rib and agony flared and I hissed. "Broken rib, I'm carrying you piggyback until we get there and you will be resting. I'm wearing my doctor hat now." I sighed but nodded. He could be as stubborn as a mule and I knew him well enough to know that he had put his foot down. 


	3. Chapter 3

Rourke's Kid

Chapter 3

There are some words that should not be used to wake a person up. Chief among those is the word "fire", Lily realized as her eyes shot open. For some reason, Milo was shouting "fire" and it was incredibly warm, it actually felt kinda nice. Lily's eyes started to drift closed, as she looked up at the beautiful golden glow coming from outside her tent. Wait a minute! Her eyes shot open and she grabbed her bag, and she raced outside. Unbeknowest to her, her sketchbook fell out of her bag. Milo grabbed her arm as she ran alongside the truck he and Audrey were sitting in the back of and she jumped in. She wondered why her sleeve felt so warm and glanced at it in surprise as Audrey yelled something in Spanish and started hitting her arm. The bridge started collapsing under all the weight of the trucks and the three of them screamed as they fell into the pit below them.

Lily slowly stood up, her ribs paining her even more than earlier and she felt something sticky on her head. Audrey was giving a damage report to her dad and she made her way over to the rest of the group. Helga looked at her in concern and made eye contact with Sweet and thrust her chin at Lily and he nodded and walked over to her and started wiping her forehead off. Apparently, in the crash, Lily had cut her forehead on something sharp, most likely glass or metal. While Lily was being cared for, Helga and Rourke discussed getting out of the dormant volcano. When they called for Milo though, there was no reply. Sweet and Lily made eye contact and she dashed off to look for Milo before Sweet could grab her and try to carry her.

When they finally caught up with Milo, Lily gaped at the incredible sight in front before her and dug in her bag for her sketchbook and looked inside when she couldn't feel it. Damn, she must have dropped it! All she could find inside the bag were her knives, her gun, and a bunch of pencils. Suddenly, their way off the cliff was cut off by a group of- who were they? Milo said excitedly that they must be Atlanteans and when one them started talking to them in Atlantean, Milo started hesitantly answering the person. Lily recognized a little bit of what they were saying but the constant switching of languages made it hard for her until she recognized French. Mole obviously recognized it and said something into the leader's ear who had taken off her mask. Whatever it was he said, she didn't like it and punched him in the face. Lily started laughing while Sweet clapped and then she clutched her ribs, noticing that blood was starting to show on the outside of her gray shirt. Not wanting Sweet or any of the others to see it, she folded her arms over the blood, gritting her teeth at the pain.

The group entered a huge room and the woman who had brought them there kneeled to an old man who was lying of a couch. Lily only caught a few words of what they said but couldn't concentrate over the pain. Audrey sidled over to her and wrapped an arm under Lily's shoulders, holding her up and Lily let herself droop, keeping the blood concealed still or trying to anyway. Her arm was getting wet and she glanced down and saw blood staining it. She would have to ask Sweet to look at it. "Lily, it's ok. Relax. I don't mind if you collapse. I've got you." Audrey whispered to her and Lily nodded once before she fainted.

When Lily came to, she was under an awning and Audrey was leaning over her. "Sweet, she's awake." Audrey said, relief in her voice. Sweet looked up from where he was sitting with his head in his hands and immediately jumped up. "Why did you do that? Why the hell did you do that?! You were hurt, what makes you think that you are invincible and can go gallivanting on adventures when if someone saw your injury, they would have been able to nearly see your ribs! Why didn't you tell me?!" He shouted, his voice growing louder until it could have been heard back up at the surface. Lily, terrified beyond belief actually started crying. She was sick of trying to be strong and invincible all the time. She covered his face with her hands, trying to muffle her crying. Sweet hugged her and said "go ahead and cry as much as you need to. I was scared when you collapsed in the throne room. I was so scared." She sobbed and he stroked her head.


	4. Chapter 4

Rourke's Kid

Chapter 4

Lily was nervous as her father handed her a gun. Did they have any right to be doing this? After all, these were living and breathing people. People who had been kind to them. Were they really going to attack these people as thanks for their kindness? Lily didn't know what was right or wrong anymore, she just knew that this didn't feel right.

She looked away from Milo's eyes as he glared at them all after surfacing from the water with the Chief's daughter. They all walked into the chief's throne room and Lily couldn't help feeling ashamed. If her father hadn't hit the chief and tried to shoot him, she might have stayed silent. "dad, this isn't right. You're killing innocent people." She said quietly and Rourke looked over her, fury knotting his face. "Shut up." He growled and the rest of the group watched as she straightened up and looked him full in the eye and said "no. What you are doing is wrong and I want no part of it. You can't keep doing this." "Shut up, you brat!" He yelled and swung at her. "No!" Someone yelled and she blocked it with her forearm, her body jarring. "Stop hitting me. Stop hurting me!" She gritted out and he growled and hit her with the other fist. "Weak and pathetic, just like your mother. Fine, go ahead and die with these people too for all I care." He said and walked away onto the circle, pulling Milo with Helga pulling the Chief's daughter. Helga glanced back at Lily before she left. A look of sorrow passed between them before Helga passed out of view down the hole.

Lily held still as Sweet examined her stomach again. It had only just begun to heal, but Rourke punching it might have made it worse. "You need rest." He said after he finished dressing the wound. "I need to take down dad. He can't do this to any more people, I won't let him. Besides, I'm his kid. I figure I at least deserve the first shot at him." Lily grabbed her bag and pulled out her gun and opened it to put bullets in it. She stood up and started swaying and Sweet forced her back down in her seat. "I know you want to take him down but you're not strong enough. You can barely even stand." Lily screw her face up in determination and slowly stood up. "Watch me." She said and limped outside, the gun tight in her hand. Sweet sighed and held his head in his hands. "And I thought Rourke was stubborn." He got up and went to check on the Chief.

Lily watched Milo as he talked with the Chief, one arm wrapped around her ribs. He turned to look at her and Sweet and she looked down, unable to meet his eyes. "That child who was hurt when you arrived, is she also here?" The chief said weakly and Lily looked up in surprise and fear. "yes, that's me." He looked up at her as much as he could. "Your leader did this." It wasn't a question. "yes. He's my dad. And I helped him." She looked down again. "Parents can shape a child, teach them wrong and right. It is the child's job to learn whether to follow the parent's path or not. Will you follow his?" At his question, her head shot up. "No. I'm gonna take him down." Her voice was full of fierceness as she said this and he nodded, satisfied. Sweet and Milo watched her proudly.

Lily glared at Sweet as he folded his arms over his chest. "I AM going, and I WILL be assisting in this mission!" She snapped and he set his jaw. "You need to heal and rest. That cannot be achieved with you going on a mission to take down your father." "I don't care! I can rest later!" She snapped and he raised an eyebrow. "If you don't take me, I swear to God, I will hijack one of those machines and follow you anyway or hell, I'll run after you guys." Milo walked over to us. "Hey, is everything OK?" he asked nervously. "SHE wants to go with us but SHE needs to rest!" I glared at Sweet. "If you don't let me go, do you honestly think I will just sit here and relax? Come on, you know me better that that." He sighed and Milo furrowed his eyebrows. "If you come with us, will you stay on the ground? Sweet and Audrey can deposit you on the ground. That way, you'll be able to see what's going on and you'll be out of harm's way." I wouldn't be able to take down dad, but it looked like this was the only way I could go so I nodded. Sweet sighed, not happy with the idea but nodded too.

I was on the bottom of the volcano looking up and watching when I saw something that resembled a human falling toward the ground and I heard the person screaming. As they came closer to the ground, I realized who it was. Helga! I scrambled toward her falling destination but wasn't able to catch her. "Helga! Oh no, Helga!" I yelled as I ran closer to her and she rolled her head toward me, eyes full of pain and surprise. "Lily, what are you doing here? I should be asking if you're OK." I dropped to the ground next to her. I was strong enough to carry her, but she was hurt badly. "It's no use, just leave me and get yourself to safety. I'm practically dead already." She said and I glared through my suddenly blurry vision. "I'm not leaving unless you're coming with me! You were more like a mom to me than my own! I won't leave you!" I screamed, looped her arm around my shoulders, and hoisted her up. "You're hurt." She muttered and I nodded, fighting off a wave of dizziness. I looked up to see a bunch of machinery falling down towards us. I quickly transferred Helga to piggyback style and started running for the exit. "Lily, you won't make it, I'm too heavy! Just drop me and save yourself!" She said in my ear as I ran. "Like hell!" I snapped.

The others came down on their vehicles and I grinned at them but then realized that dad was dead. I had no love for him but for some reason, I still felt sad about it. And what was I going to do now? Even if I went back up to the surface, where would I go? I could worry about that later though. The volcano was erupting! "We only have room for one passenger though." One of the Atlanteans said to me and I glanced at Helga. "Take her, she's hurt and maybe with your crystals, you'll be able to help her." I said and slung Helga off my shoulders, ignoring her shouts of rage. "Helga, I'll be following on the ground. I'll see you soon, ok?"


	5. Chapter 5

Rourke's Kid

Chapter 5

Lily felt like she was going to die, or be sick, or both as she ran under the flying machines, tripping over rocks and clutching her ribs. She could barely catch a breath, blood was sliding down her hand, and her vision was blurring. If she could have sighed in relief as she made it back to Atlantis and collapsed on the ground. She thought she heard someone shouting but it was so quiet and her vision was going dark. Huh, the ground was actually feeling pretty soft.

Ow, ow, ow, OW! Everything hurt! Lily slowly opened her eyes and tried to sit up, wincing as she did so. "Lily, you shouldn't sit up yet." Milo whispered and glanced at Sweet, who was sleeping on a low seat next to the bed. "He, Kida, me, and everyone else was worried about you when you collapsed. There was so much blood and your heartbeat was barely there, we didn't even here it at first. You've been out for nearly two weeks." Lily grimaced and lifted up her shirt to look at her ribs. "Um, I don't think you-" A brown hand reached down to grip Lily's hand and Lily looked up into the face of Kida who was crying. "You went against your own father, your own blood, to help me and my people. I owe you my gratitude." Lily looked down, tears filling her eyes. "I don't deserve your gratitude. I helped him, heck all I wanted was his love and praise, I would have done anything to earn that!" Lily was full-on sobbing now, guilt and misery overwhelming her. Kida wrapped her arms around Lily and rocked her and made calming noises while Lily sobbed out all her pain, misery, guilt, and fear. Milo and Sweet, who had just woken up, went to go take a walk.

Kida went to go talk with Sweet and Milo while Lily slept. Before Lily went to sleep, Kida had helped her get rid of her long sleeves. Lily had looked up at her and said "I'm tired of hiding and pretending to be fine. My old man beat me and I hid my scars out of fear. He's dead though." It had taken all of Kida's strength of will to not cry or scream out in rage when she saw the numerous scars and bruises on Lily's arms. She had helped Sweet bandage Lily's stomach while she was unconscious and had cried then and there. Kida and her father had disagreed on many things but he had never harmed her the way Lily's father had. No, that _thing_ wasn't Lily's father. Which brought her to the conversation and potential argument between Sweet and Milo. You see, Kida and Milo wanted to adopt Lily. They weren't the only ones who wanted to though.

"I've known Lily for years, you've known for however long this expedition was, heck I've lost count of the days! You think you know her, you think you can help her?!" Sweet yelled at them and glared at them. Milo opened his mouth but Kida beat him to the punch. "You knew her for years, yes? So you would have noticed how much pain she was in. And yet, you did NOTHING. You claim that you love her, and yet, you didn't save her." She didn't even yell it but he stopped and turned pale. "You're right, I let myself turn a blind eye to what was going on. I have no explanation and nothing I can say can make it right." Kida glared at him and Milo looked on nervously as Sweet looked down. "can you guys stop yelling at each other please? One, it's annoying and two, you woke me up." A weak voice said and they all looked up. Lily was standing-well, leaning against the wall and her face was looking kind of pale. They started toward her and Kida made it there first, slinging an arm under her shoulders and helping her back to her temporary room.

"How much did you overhear?" Sweet asked Lily as Kida helped her lie down. "Enough to figure out what's going on." She answered, wincing and rubbing her ribs, the scars on her arms shining silver. "How's Helga?" lily asked, clearly expecting the worst. "She is healing well, but I'm not sure what to do with her. She attacked us and tried to destroy our race and culture. That warrants a death sentence." Lily gasped and covered her mouth. "However, I wish to begin my reign with peace and healing, not death and anger." Lily lowered her hands, but her eyes remained wide. "I can't make any excuses for what she did and I don't intend to. But she was kind to me growing up, she was more of a mom to me than my own. Let her go back to the surface with the expedition or something. Or keep her here so you can keep an eye on here." Lily pleaded and Kida and Milo shared a look. "We can let her go back to the surface but she can't come back ever again. She's just too dangerous." Lily was sad but relieved at the same time. It was better than Helga dying. "Can I go see her?" Lily asked and Kida nodded and told her where she was.

Lily wasn't the only one who was crying as she and Helga hugged after Lily had told her that they might or might not ever see each other again. "So, do you want to go or do you want to stay? It sounds like you have two choices." Helga said and Lily nodded. "I don't know what I want to do. All I've ever wanted is to get dad's love or get away from him. It never occurred to me where I would go or what I would do after I got away from him." She raked a hand through her hair, wincing at the knots. "Come here and I can help you with your hair and we can figure out what to do.


	6. Chapter 6

Rourke's Kid

Chapter 6

So, due to my inability to choose who should adopt Lily, I'll be writing two endings. This is ending #1.

"Lily, I think you should go with Sweet if he wants to adopt you. He's a good guy and he genuinely cares about your wellbeing. And if what you told me is true, then we would be able to see each other more." Helga said as she French braided my dark brown hair and I nodded. "I agree, but would it offend Milo and Kida if I go with Sweet instead?" She tied off the braid and hugged me. "Milo is naïve but kind and Kida is a kind woman. They won't mind."

"If it's ok with you Lily, I was hoping to adopt you." Sweet said as he rebandaged my stomach and I smiled at him. "I've been wishing for a long time that you were my dad." He looked at me, smiled and hugged me tightly.

As soon as we got back to the surface, Sweet filled out the paperwork to adopt me and my name changed from Lily Rourke to Lily Sweet. To this day, I still love my last name. Dad started training me to be a doctor just like him. He's a great teacher to, teaching through kindness rather than brutal strength and fear.

Epilogue

"Dr. Sweet, your husband and child are here to see you." I grinned and brushed my arm across my forehead, wiping away the sweat gathered there from the last surgery I did. I had nearly lost my patient. "Mommy! We brought you lunch!" My six-year-old daughter yelled and jumped into my arms. Thank goodness, I was prepared, unlike last time. "Thank you, Helga. I was just getting hungry too." She smiled her beautiful smile and I felt the tension I had been carrying all morning loosen. "Helga, why don't you get some plates from Miss Katy for us?" My husband of ten years, Lyon, said. As soon as she ran out of the room, Lyon came over to me and hugged me, rubbing my back and I silently cried into his shoulder. "I know baby, I know. You did great, she's going to be fine." He said while Miss Katy distracted Helga with a new toy. Helga from the expedition had cried when I asked her to be godmother and she and the other former members of the expedition were constantly at the house. Audrey had even broken in a few times, bearing sweets. When she learned how crazy little Helga got when she had sugar though, she stopped bringing sugar. I had long given up on trying to find locks she couldn't break through. Baby Helga was already an incredible artist and I was planning on getting her a new sketchpad and a set of paints for her birthday. I spoiled her so much but I didn't mind. She would have a better childhood than I had, of that I was certain. She had no idea that my adoptive father wasn't her real father. Maybe I would tell her when she was older but I saw no reason to bring that monster back, even if it was only his memory. Some things should stay dead.


	7. Chapter 7Final Chapter

Rourke's Kid

Final Chapter

 **This the second ending and last chapter, hope y'all have enjoyed this fanfic!**

"I don't want to go back to the surface. I want to stay here." I declared as Helga combed my hair and braided it. "Milo and Kida are good and kind people and will take good care of you." Helga finished and hugged me from behind. "Will you write to me?" I asked and felt something hot drip onto my shoulder. "Of course I will. You're one of the only good things to be happen to me in this life."

"Would you mind if I chose to stay here, Sweet?" I asked as he rebandaged my stomach. "Of course not, I can figure out ways to visit you, and it's your choice." I knew he wasn't angry or disappointed, but I could sense his sadness. I couldn't go back to that world though, full of things like dad, full of monsters like him and worse. I hugged Sweet hard and Milo and Kida came in. "Hey Sweet, do you mind if we talk to Lily?" Milo said and he nodded and walked out. I stood up and walked over to them. "If it's possible, can I stay here? I can work and find ways to help." I suggested. "That will not be necessary." Kida said and when I looked up at her in worry, she smiled kindly at me. "If it is alright with you, would you stay here? As our daughter?" Kida asked and I gaped at her and Milo who was smiling at me. All I could do was nod eagerly and hug them. Kida and Milo laughed and hugged me back. I finally had a family, someone I could trust.

I hugged everyone one last time and gave Mole some volcanic dirt that had been scraped off my boots and he started crying and thanking me. He's a weird one, our Mole. Milo and Kida were talking with Sweet as I hugged Audrey and we promised to write to each other. They all boarded the sub pods and I waved goodbye with Kida and Milo.

My days were occupied with learning the ways of my people and navigating the role of princess, all while helping to rebuild. It turned out that I was good at healing people and painting the glyphs that made up the Atlantean language. My very first patient was a young man a little older than me named Xerxes.

Epilogue

I finished healing the person the little girl who had come to me with a sprained wrist and smiled at her, sitting back on my heels. She rolled her wrist a few times then hugged me ecstatically, thanking me non-stop. I patted her head and she ran off to go play with her friends. I sighed and slumped, exhausted and I felt hands on my shoulders and smiled tiredly up at husband, Xerxes. "Your children have been rather active today." I said and rubbed my rounded belly and felt a kick. He sat behind me and I leaned back against him. When he had first asked if he could court me, I told him "no", still so full of self-loathing. He was persistent though and not even a year later, he was courting me and I was falling for him more and more every day. But I was still terrified of hurting him, of dragging him down. When I told him that this couldn't continue because I wasn't good enough for him and I would only end up hurting him, he simply smiled and kissed away my tears. "I happen to disagree with you on both of those statements. I love you Lily." When he said that, I broke down and he held me while I cried.

3 years later, I was pregnant with twins. When I had told him, he ran up to the tallest tower and yelled that he was going to be a father happily. Kida had been so happy that she was going to be a grandmother and Milo cried. Audrey and the rest of the gang had come to visit when I wrote her that I was married and pregnant. For a such a tomboy, she sure can squeal awfully high and loud, I realized as she hugged me. I looked over at Sweet. "Will you be godfather?" Stunned, he nodded then grinned at me.


End file.
